The present invention relates generally to telecommunications services. More particularly, the present application relates to a method and system for providing enhanced caller identification information including screening invalid calling party numbers.
Telecommunications service providers typically offer services that attempt to provide customers with information that enables them to determine whether or not to accept a call before answering the call. One service that provides such information is caller identification (“Caller ID”). Standard Caller ID services generally provide a customer with an indication of who is calling without requiring the customer to answer the call. These systems typically retrieve information about the calling party from a database and provide that information to the called party. Customer premise equipment (CPE) in the form of a display device is generally used to provide the called party with a visual readout of the name and/or telephone number associated with the calling party.
However, the effectiveness of Caller ID systems can be reduced due to a number of different occurrences. One such occurrence is the inability of a service provider to provide the standard Caller ID information for a particular incoming call. A service provider may not be able to provide the standard Caller ID information if the Caller ID information is blocked by the calling party, or if the Caller ID information is unavailable or incomplete. This may occur, for example, if the calling party pressed *67 when initiating the call.
When the standard Caller ID information cannot be provided, the called party is not adequately informed about who is calling and cannot determine whether or not to accept the incoming call before answering the call. Because the effectiveness of Caller ID systems is greatly reduced when information cannot be provided, an improved system and method for providing caller identification information that overcome these deficiencies are needed.
Patent application Ser. No. 09/122,484, filed Jul. 24, 1998 and commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, is incorporated herein by reference. This patent application discloses a method and system for providing a called party with audible caller identification information when standard caller identification cannot be provided. When standard caller identification cannot be provided, the call is blocked and a request for audible caller identification is transmitted to the calling party. The audible information is subsequently transmitted to the called party.
Patent application Ser. No. 09/265,001, filed Mar. 3, 1999 and commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, is incorporated herein by reference. This patent application discloses a method and system for providing to a customer an audible call waiting notification of a current call. The notification is provided for all calls, including a first-received call and a subsequently-received call waiting call. The system notifies the customer that a current call is waiting in a manner that reduces confusion. Confusion is reduced by the combination of audible call waiting indicators and audible caller identification information associated with the calling telephone station. Additionally, both the indicator and the representation of the information can be provided automatically without significant delay. The indication is provided even when standard caller identification information is not available by prompting the caller to provide spoken caller identification information.
In the systems disclosed in the incorporated patent applications, callers to a privacy service subscriber must provide caller identification information before the call is completed. However, additional convenience features are required to enhance the service as a product, to provide additional options for handling every incoming call, and to reliably implement the service in a telecommunication network.